ON THE COVER: In stark contrast to many parts of the world, relatively little of South Africa’s cement usage – just 17% – is from readymix supply, leaving huge potential for the growth of readymix markets. Vital to this growth, however, is customers’ trust in the quality and cost effectiveness of the product.

According to Johan van Wyk, director of the Southern Africa Ready-mix Association (SARMA), the rest of the world consumes some 90% of its cement in readymix, indicating that there is strong confidence in these markets about the readymix offering.

“We use the SARMA audit as a valuable measure – which is both external and independent – of the quality of our entire readymix value-chain which provides added reassurance to customers of the quality they will receive,” says Amit Dawneerangen, general manager: readymix at AfriSam.

Language barriers, different cultural expectations and a whole new set of engineering standards – managing an international project can be daunting. In the October issue Dave Friar, operations director at engineering solutions provider, Boulting explains why working closely with local engineers when managing construction and commissioning of international facilities can lessen the headache.

Durban’s aerotropolis

There is currently much being said about Durban’s emerging aerotropolis. Mooted to spearhead significant economic and social transformation in KwaZulu-Natal, it is worth unpacking exactly what an aerotropolis is and what the benefits to the province will be.

Building skyscrapers

Skyscrapers are inherently impressive and construction experts are invariably fascinated by their engineering, design and safety. Only a matter of years ago, a tower 200 metres tall would have ranked as a landmark build.

Some projects nowadays surpass that figure by a factor of five. Doka has the right formwork solutions for every high rise project. The company also invests continuously in further development of products and services dovetailed to the individual requirements of customers.

Timeless and elegant

The ability to make a structurally-complex building appear both elegant and timeless was the driver behind the successful design of the new 140 West Street commercial development in Sandton, according to Paragon Project Architect, Kay Hausler.

Developed by Zenprop, the 27 000 m² of P-grade office space comprises two linked towers on a lush landscaped podium, namely a ten-storey North Tower, a 14-storey South Tower, and eight parking levels. The project achieved a 4 Star Green Office Design V1 from the Green Building Council of South Africa.

Setting up precast plants

The setting up of a precast plant requires proper scheduling with each aspect of the project requiring specific planning and adequate time allocation. The Elematic expertise in this process has assisted both local and global customers to ensure correct precast plant development has been efficiently implemented.

Before equipment manufacturing starts, a launch meeting should be organised to ensure that all the technical details are in place; the production capacity, their feedings and even the equipment size required to make sure the site is appropriately designed. Drawings of the future precast concrete production hall should be available.

Crown Publications, one of South Africa’s largest business-to-business publishing houses, came into existence in 1986. Since then, the company has grown from producing a single magazine, Electricity SA (renamed Electricity+Control), to publishing six monthly magazines, three quarterlies, and a number of engineering handbooks.